Systems and methods for facilitating pick up of products ordered by a customer by a friend or family member of the customer

ABSTRACT

In some embodiments, methods and systems are provided that permit a customer to purchase products from a retailer and elect an option for a friend or family member of the customer to pick up the ordered products from the retail facility of the retailer associated with the geographic location of the customer. If the friend or family member of the customer agrees to pick up the products for the customer, and if the customer agrees to have the selected friend or family member of the customer pick up the products for the customer, the friend or family member is allowed to pick up the products at the retail facility associated with the geographic location of the customer. The customer is then allowed to either pick up the products from such a friend or family member or the friend or family member may deliver the products to the customer.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.15/646,568, filed Jul. 11, 2017, which claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Application No. 62/360,781, filed Jul. 11, 2016, each ofwhich is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates generally to providing products purchased tocustomers and, in particular, to facilitating pick up of productspurchased by a customer from a retailer.

BACKGROUND

Customers often purchase products from retailers over the internet.Generally, the products purchased by a customer are delivered to anaddress provided by the customer. Some customers elect to pick up theproducts they order from a retail facility of the retailer. Delivery ofproducts to an address provided by the customer is associated with extracosts for the retailer and for the customer. In addition, productsdelivered to a home address and left on the property of the customerwhen the customer is not home (e.g., at work) may be stolen and/ordamaged by 3^(rd) parties. On the other hand, picking up products at theretail facility of the retailer may be undesirable for customers becauseit is time consuming and/or inconvenient for the customers.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Disclosed herein are embodiments of systems, apparatuses, methods, andsystems pertaining to facilitating pick up of products purchased by acustomer from a retailer by a friend or family member of the customer.This description includes drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a system of facilitating pick up of productspurchased by a customer from a retailer by a friend or family member ofthe customer in accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 2 is a functional diagram of an exemplary computing device usablewith the system of FIG. 1 in accordance with some embodiments; and

FIG. 3 is a flow chart diagram of a process of facilitating pick up ofproducts purchased by a customer from a retailer by a friend or familymember of the customer in accordance with some embodiments.

Elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity andhave not been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions and/orrelative positioning of some of the elements in the figures may beexaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understandingof various embodiments of the present invention. Also, common butwell-understood elements that are useful or necessary in a commerciallyfeasible embodiment are often not depicted in order to facilitate a lessobstructed view of these various embodiments of the present invention.Certain actions and/or steps may be described or depicted in aparticular order of occurrence while those skilled in the art willunderstand that such specificity with respect to sequence is notactually required. The terms and expressions used herein have theordinary technical meaning as is accorded to such terms and expressionsby persons skilled in the technical field as set forth above exceptwhere different specific meanings have otherwise been set forth herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, but ismade merely for the purpose of describing the general principles ofexemplary embodiments. Reference throughout this specification to “oneembodiment,” “an embodiment,” or similar language means that aparticular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connectionwith the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of thepresent invention. Thus, appearances of the phrases “in one embodiment,”“in an embodiment,” and similar language throughout this specificationmay, but do not necessarily, all refer to the same embodiment.

Generally speaking, pursuant to various embodiments, systems and methodsare provided for enabling a customer to purchase one or more productsfrom a retailer and elect an option for a friend or family member of thecustomer to pick up the products ordered by the customer from the retailfacility of the retailer associated with the geographic location of thecustomer. The customer is then allowed to either pick up the productsfrom such a friend or family member or the friend or family member maydeliver the products to the customer.

In some embodiments, a system for facilitating pick up of productspurchased over a network by a customer from a retailer includes an orderprocessing server of the retailer configured to process an order for aproduct placed by the customer. The system also includes a computingdevice of the retailer including a processor-based control circuit. Thecomputing device is configured to access at least one social mediawebsite to identify friends and family members of the customer. Thecontrol circuit of the computing device is configured to: analyzegeographic locations of the friends and family members of the customerto determine a first friend or family member of the customer located ata geographic location closest to a geographic location of a retailfacility of the retailer associated with a geographic location of thecustomer; transmit a first electronic notification to a computing deviceof the first friend or family member of the customer, the firstelectronic notification requesting the first friend or family member ofthe customer to indicate agreement to pick up, at the retail facility ofthe retailer, the product ordered by the customer; receive a responsefrom the computing device of the first friend or family member of thecustomer indicating agreement by the first friend or family member ofthe customer to pick up, at the retail facility of the retailer, theproduct ordered by the customer; and transmit a second electronicnotification to a computing device of the customer, the secondelectronic notification indicating that the product ordered by thecustomer will be available for pick up at the geographic location of thefirst friend or family member of the customer.

In other embodiments, a method of facilitating pick up of productspurchased over a network by a customer from a retailer includes:processing, at an order processing server, an order for a product placedby the customer; accessing, via a computing device of the retailerincluding a processor-based control circuit, at least one social mediaweb site to identify friends and family members of the customer;analyzing, via the computing device of the retailer, geographiclocations of the friends and family members of the customer to determinea first friend or family member of the customer located at a geographiclocation closest to a geographic location of a retail facility of theretailer associated with a geographic location of the customer;transmitting, via the computing device of the retailer, a firstelectronic notification to a computing device of the first friend orfamily member of the customer, the first electronic notificationrequesting the first friend or family member of the customer to indicateagreement to pick up, at the retail facility of the retailer, theproduct ordered by the customer; receiving, at the computing device ofthe retailer, a response from the computing device of the first friendor family member of the customer indicating agreement by the firstfriend or family member of the customer to pick up, at the retailfacility of the retailer, the product ordered by the customer; andtransmitting, from the computing device of the retailer, a secondelectronic notification to a computing device of the customer, thesecond electronic notification indicating that the product ordered bythe customer will be available for pick up at the geographic location ofthe first friend or family member of the customer.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a system 100 for facilitating pick up ofproducts 190 purchased over a network by a customer 110 from a retailer.The retailer may be any entity operating as a brick-and-mortar physicallocation and/or a website accessible, for example, via the internet oranother network, by way of which products 190 may be ordered by acustomer 110. A customer 110 may be an individual or business entity.Exemplary products 190 that may be ordered by the customer 110 via thesystem 100 may include, but are not limited to, general-purpose consumergoods, as well as consumable products, such as medications, food items,and dietary supplements.

The exemplary system 100 depicted in FIG. 1 includes an order processingserver 130 of the retailer configured to process a purchase order by thecustomer 110 for one or more products 190. The order processing server130 may be implemented as one server at one location, or as multipleinterconnected servers stored at multiple locations operated by or forthe retailer. As described in more detail below, the order processingserver 130 may communicate with one or more electronic devices of system100 via a network 125. The network 125 may be a wide-area network (WAN),a local area network (LAN), a personal area network (PAN), a wirelesslocal area network (WLAN), or any other internet or intranet network, orcombinations of such networks. Generally, communication betweenvariously electronic devices of system 100 may take place overhard-wired, cellular, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth networked components or thelike. In some embodiments, one or more electronic devices of system 100may include cloud-based features, such as cloud-based memory storage.

In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the order processing server 130 is coupledto a customer information database 140. In some embodiments, thecustomer information database 140 may be configured to store informationassociated with a customer 110 of the retailer who orders products 190from the retailer. In some embodiments, the customer informationdatabase 140 may store electronic information associated with thecustomer 110, such as the customer's personal information, product orderhistory, pending order status, product order options, product deliveryand/or pick-up options, as well as personal information associated withfriends and family of the customer 110 (which may be obtained by theretailer as described in more detail below). The customer informationdatabase 140 may be stored, for example, on non-volatile storage media(e.g., a hard drive, flash drive, or removable optical disk) internal orexternal to the order processing server 130, or internal or external tocomputing devices separate and distinct from the order processing server130. It will be appreciated that the customer information database 140may likewise be cloud-based. In some embodiments, the order processingserver 130 may be also coupled to an electronic database configured tostore information associated with the inventory of products 190available to the customer 110 for purchase from the retailer. In otherwords, while the order processing server 130 is illustrated in FIG. 1 asbeing coupled to one electronic database, it will be appreciated thatthe order processing server 130 may be coupled to two or more electronicdatabases configured to store customer information and/or productinventory information.

In some embodiments, when a customer 110 initially sets up an onlineaccount with the retailer, the system 100 (i.e., order processing server130 or another server on the system 100 dedicated to new customersign-up) is configured to permit the customer 110 to generate a customerprofile including personal information of the customer 110 (e.g., name,address, phone number, and the like), payment methods (e.g., credit cardinformation), as well as product pick up settings of the customer 110(e.g., list of friends and/or family members of the customer 110authorized to pick up products 190 for the customer 110 from the retailfacility 180). It will be appreciated that the customer 110 may selectnew options and/or update previously selected options at any time aftersetting up the account with the retailer. In some embodiments, thepersonal information of the customer 110 and any product pick up-relatedoptions selected by the customer 110 are stored in the customerinformation database 140 and/or inventory management database 160 forsubsequent retrieval by the order processing server 130 and/or by aretailer computing device 150 (e.g., in response to a login request orproduct order placement by the customer 110).

In some embodiments, as the customer 110 is connecting to the retailer'swebsite (e.g., via a login interface), the order processing server 130may request a verification of the identity (e.g., username/password) ofthe customer 110. The order processing server 130 may first verify theidentity of the customer 110 (e.g., by comparing the username/passworddata entered by the customer 110 into the login interface againstusername/password data in the profile of the customer 110 stored in thecustomer information database 140). The order processing server 130 maythen associate the customer profile with the identity of the customer110, retrieve the customer profile from the customer informationdatabase 140 based on information stored in the profile, and send theretrieved customer account information to the customer computing device120, which includes a graphical interface 122 (described in more detailbelow) that permits the customer 110 to customize various optionsrelating to the ordering of products 190 from the retailer and/orrelating to pick up options for the products 190 at the retail facility180 by friends or family members of the customer 110.

The customer 110 may access the order processing server 130 of theretailer via a customer computing device 120, which may be a stationary,portable, and/or hand-held electronic device, for example, a desktopcomputer, a laptop computer, a tablet, a mobile phone, or any otherelectronic, processor-based device that may be configured for data entryand communication with the order processing server 130. In someembodiments, the customer 110 may access the order processing server 130of the retailer via a graphical interface 122 displayed to the customer110 on the customer computing device 120. The graphical interface 122may include one or more graphical input fields 124 in the form of menuoptions and/or sub-interfaces that permit the customer 110 to place anorder for one or more products 190 and to select pick up options for oneor more products 190 ordered by the customer 110. In some embodiments,the graphical interface 122 may be a retailer-associated mobileapplication (app) installed on the customer computing device 120 andconfigured to display various above-described menu options,notifications, and/or alerts for the customer 110. For example,electronic alerts may be transmitted to the customer computing device120 from the retailer computing device 150 and/or from the orderprocessing server 130 and displayed via the graphical interface 122.

In some embodiments, after placing an on order for one or more products190 via the order processing server 130 using the graphical interface122 of the customer computing device 120, the customer 110 does notselect an option to have the products 190 delivered to the customer 110and does not select an option to personally pick up the ordered products190 from a retail facility 180 associated with a geographic location ofthe customer 110. Instead, the customer 110 selects an option to havethe ordered products 190 be picked up at the retail facility 180 by afriend or family member of the customer 110 as discussed in more detailbelow. In other words, the order processing server 130 is configured toenable the customer 110 to permit a friend or family member of thecustomer 110 to pick up the products 190 ordered by the customer 110from the retail facility 180 and to later pick up the products 190ordered by the customer 110 from such a friend or family member.

In some embodiments, the order processing server 130 is configured toreceive and process an order by a customer 110 for a product 190 fromthe customer computing device 120, to receive and process payment forthe product 190 from the customer 110, and to transmit the customer'selection of pick-up of the ordered products 190 by a friend or family ofthe customer 110 based on the processed order (e.g., via the network125) to a retailer computing device 150 at the retail facility 180associated with the geographic location of the customer 110 who placedthe order. It will be appreciated that while the order processing server130 and the retailer computing device 150 may be located at separatephysical locations (e.g., regional/central data center, retail facility180, or the like), the system 100, in some embodiments, may be confinedto a single retail facility 180 of the retailer.

The retailer computing device 150 located at the retail facility 180 ofthe retailer may be a stationary or portable electronic device, forexample, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a tablet, a mobilephone, or any other electronic device including a processor-basedcontrol circuit (i.e., control unit). In the embodiment of FIG. 1, theretailer computing device 150 is configured for data entry andprocessing as well as for communication with other devices of system 100via the network 125 which, as described above, may be a wide-areanetwork (WAN), a local area network (LAN), a personal area network(PAN), a wireless local area network (WLAN), or any other internet orintranet network, or combinations of such networks. In some embodiments,as will be described in more detail below, the retailer computing device150 is configured to access at least one social media website toidentify friends and family members of the customers 110 who order theproducts 190 from the retailer.

With reference to FIG. 2, an exemplary computing device 150 configuredfor use with exemplary systems and methods described herein may includea control circuit or control unit 210 including a processor (forexample, a microprocessor or a microcontroller) electrically coupled viaa connection 215 to a memory 220 and via a connection 225 to a powersupply 230. The control unit 210 can comprise a fixed-purpose hard-wiredplatform or can comprise a partially or wholly programmable platform,such as a microcontroller, an application specification integratedcircuit, a field programmable gate array, and so on. These architecturaloptions are well known and understood in the art and require no furtherdescription here.

This control unit 210 can be configured (for example, by usingcorresponding programming stored in the memory 220 as will be wellunderstood by those skilled in the art) to carry out one or more of thesteps, actions, and/or functions described herein. In some embodiments,the memory 220 may be integral to the processor-based control unit 210or can be physically discrete (in whole or in part) from the controlunit 210 and is configured non-transitorily store the computerinstructions that, when executed by the control unit 210, cause thecontrol unit 210 to behave as described herein. (As used herein, thisreference to “non-transitorily” will be understood to refer to anon-ephemeral state for the stored contents (and hence excludes when thestored contents merely constitute signals or waves) rather thanvolatility of the storage media itself and hence includes bothnon-volatile memory (such as read-only memory (ROM)) as well as volatilememory (such as an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM))).Accordingly, the memory and/or the control unit may be referred to as anon-transitory medium or non-transitory computer readable medium.

The control unit 210 of the retailer computing device 150 is alsoelectrically coupled via a connection 235 to an input/output 240 thatcan receive signals from the order processing server 130 (e.g., datafrom the customer information database 140 relating to a product orderplaced by the customer 110) or from any other source that cancommunicate with the retailer computing device 150 via a wired orwireless connection. The input/output 240 of the customer computingdevice 120 can also send signals to the order processing server 130(e.g., data including product out-of-stock information regarding theproduct for which an order is placed by the customer 110 via the orderprocessing server 130), or to any other device in wired or wirelesscommunication with the retailer computing device 150.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the processor-based control unit 210of the retailer computing device 150 is electrically coupled via aconnection 245 to a user interface 250, which may include a visualdisplay or display screen 260 (e.g., LED screen) and/or button input 270that provide the user interface 250 with the ability to permit anoperator of the retailer computing device 150 to manually control theretailer computing device 150 by inputting commands via touch-screenand/or button operation and/or voice commands to, for example, toassociate the products 190 ordered by a customer 110 with the name of afriend or family member of the customer 110 approved by the customer 110to pick up the products 190 ordered by the customer from the retailfacility 180. It will be appreciated that the performance of suchfunctions by the processor-based control unit 210 of the retailercomputing device 150 is not dependent on a human operator, and that thecontrol unit 210 may be programmed to perform such functions without ahuman operator.

In some embodiments, the display screen 260 of retailer computing device150 is configured to display various graphical interface-based menus,options, and/or alerts that may be transmitted to the retailer computingdevice 150 and displayed on the display screen 260 in connection withvarious aspects of the order placed by the customer 110. The inputs 270of the retailer computing device 150 may be configured to permit anoperator to navigate through the on-screen menus on the retailercomputing device 150 and make changes and/or updates to the friendsand/or family members of the customer 110 who will be picking up theproducts 190 ordered by the customer 110 from the retail facility 180.It will be appreciated that the display screen 260 may be configured asboth a display screen and an input 270 (e.g., a touch-screen thatpermits an operator to press on the display screen 260 to enter textand/or execute commands.)

In some embodiments, the control circuit 210 of the retailer computingdevice 150 is programmed to cause the retailer computing device 150 toaccess at least one social media website (e.g., Facebook, Instagram,Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) to identify friends and family members of thecustomer 110 who placed the order for one or more products 190 via theorder processing server 130. In one aspect, the control circuit 210 maybe programmed to analyze geographic locations of the friends and familymembers of the customer identified via the accessing of the one or moresocial media websites to determine a first friend or family member ofthe customer 110 who is located at a physical address that is closest to(i.e., the shortest distance from) a geographic location of the retailfacility 180 associated with a geographic location of the customer 110who placed the order. In other words, in some embodiments, after acustomer 110 places an order for one or more products 190 via the orderprocessing server 130, the retailer computing device 150 accesses one ormore social media website to identify friends and family members of thecustomer 110 and then determines the friend or family member that islocated the shortest distance from the retail facility 180 closest tothe geographic location of the customer 110.

In some embodiments, the control circuit 210 of the retailer computingdevice 150 is programmed to generate customer alerts in connection withthe products 190 ordered by the customer 110 via the order processingserver 130. The customer alerts may be generated by the retailercomputing device 150 based on information received from the orderprocessing server 130 and/or from the customer information database 140and/or from the inventory management database 160 and/or from acomputing device 115 a or 115 b of a friend or family member of thecustomer 110. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the customer alerts maybe transmitted from the retailer computing device 150 via the network125 to the customer computing device 120, and the customer computingdevice 120 may transmit data responsive to the customer alerts and/orother data to the retailer computing device 150 via the network 125. Forexample, the retailer computing device 150 may transmit a signal overthe network 125 to the customer computing device 120 including an alertidentifying a friend or family member of the customer who agreed to pickup the products 190 ordered by the customer 110 from the retail facility180 associated with the geographic location of the customer 110. In someembodiments, customer alerts sent to the customer computing device 120may include but are not limited to short message service (SMS) messages,electronic mail (e-mail) messages, instant messenger messages, voicemail messages, and/or push notifications (to a mobile applicationinstalled on the customer computing device 120).

In some embodiments, the control circuit 210 of the retailer computingdevice 150 may be programmed to transmit, via the network 125, a firstelectronic notification (i.e., an alert) including a query (e.g., viaSMS, email, mobile app push notification, electronic mail, instantmessenger, or the like) to a computing device 115 a of a first friend orfamily member of the customer 110 determined to be located a shortestdistance from the retail facility 180. For example, such an electronicquery may request that the first friend or family member of the customer110 indicate agreement or disagreement to pick up, at the retailfacility 180 of the retailer, one or more products 190 ordered by thecustomer 110 from the retailer. The first friend or family member of thecustomer 110 may then use his or her computing device 115 a to respondto this electronic notification or query by indicating (e.g., via thegraphical interface 117 a and/or input fields 119 a of the computingdevice 115 a) agreement or disagreement with picking up the products 190for the customer 110 at the retail facility 180 of the retailerassociated with a geographic location of the customer 110.

In one aspect, the control circuit 210 is configured to receive aresponse from the computing device 115 a of the first friend or familymember of the customer 110 indicating agreement by the first friend orfamily member of the customer 110 to pick up, at the retail facility 180of the retailer, the products 190 ordered by the customer 110. Inresponse to receiving a response indicating agreement to pick up theproducts 190 from the computing device 115 a of the first friend orfamily member of the customer 110, the control circuit 210 of theretailer computing device 150 is programmed to transmit a secondelectronic notification to the customer computing device 120 to indicateto the customer 110 that the products 190 ordered by the customer 110will be available for pick up at the geographic location of the firstfriend or family member of the customer 110.

In another aspect, the control circuit 210 is configured to receive aresponse from the computing device 115 a of the first friend or familymember of the customer 110 indicating disagreement by the first friendor family member of the customer 110 to pick up, at the retail facility180 of the retailer, the products 190 ordered by the customer 110. Inresponse to receiving a response indicating disagreement to pick up theproducts 190 from the computing device 115 a of the first friend orfamily member of the customer 110, the control circuit 210 of theretailer computing device 150 is programmed to analyze geographiclocations of other friends and family members of the customer 110 todetermine a second friend or family member of the customer 110 locatedat a geographic location that is second closest (after the first friendor family member of the customer 110) to a geographic location of theretail facility 180 associated with a geographic location of thecustomer 110.

In one aspect, upon determining the second friend of family member ofthe customer 110 that is located second closest to the geographiclocation of the retail facility 180 associated with a geographiclocation of the customer 110, the control circuit 210 of the retailercomputing device 150 is programmed to transmit (a third) electronicnotification to the computing device 115 b of the second friend orfamily member of the customer 110 requesting that the second friend orfamily member of the customer 110 indicate agreement or disagreement topick up, at the retail facility 180, one or more products 190 ordered bythe customer 110. Depending on whether the second friend or familymember of the customer 110 agrees or disagrees to pick up the products190 ordered by the customer 110 from the retail facility 180, thecontrol unit 210 of the computing device is programmed to either performan analysis as described above to determine a third friend or familymember of the customer 110 located at a geographic location that isthird closest (after the first and second friend or family member) tothe geographic location of the retail facility 180 associated with ageographic location of the customer 110, or to notify the customer 110to pick up the products 190 from the geographic location of the secondfriend or family member of the customer 110.

In some embodiments, the control unit 210 of the retailer computingdevice 150 may be programmed to send an electronic notification or alertincluding a query (e.g., via SMS, email, mobile app push notification,electronic mail, instant messenger, or the like) to the customercomputing device 120. For example, such an electronic query mayaccompany an electronic customer alert indicating that a friend orfamily member of the customer agreed to pick up the products 190 orderedby the customer 110 from the retail facility 180 associated with thegeographic location of the customer 110, and asking the customer 110 torespond via a graphical interface 122 on a display screen of thecustomer computing device 120 by indicating whether the customer 110agrees with having this friend or family member pick up the products 190for the customer 110 at the retail facility 180.

In one aspect, the customer 110 may then use the graphical interface 122of his or her computing device 120 to respond to this query byindicating (e.g., by checking one or more appropriate input fields 124of the graphical interface 122) that the customer 110 agrees to have thefirst friend or family member selected by the retailer computing device150 pick up the products 190 for the customer 110. In response toreceiving an indication of agreement (by the customer 110 that the firstfriend or family member of the customer 110 pick up the products 190)from the customer computing device 120, the control circuit 210 of theretailer computing device 150 is programmed to transmit an electronicnotification to the computing device 115 a of the first friend or familymember of the customer 110 to notify the first friend or family memberto go pick up the product 190 ordered by the customer 110 from theretail facility 180 associated with the geographic location of thecustomer 110. In another aspect, the customer 110 may use the customercomputing device 120 to respond to this query by indicating (e.g., bychecking one or more appropriate input fields 124 of the graphicalinterface 122) that the customer 110 does not agree to have the firstfriend or family member selected by the retailer computing device 150pick up the products 190 for the customer 110 at the retail facility180. In response to receiving an indication of disagreement (by thecustomer 110 that the first friend or family member of the customer 110pick up the products 190) from the customer computing device 120, thecontrol circuit 210 of the retailer computing device 150 is programmedto analyze geographic locations of other friends and family members ofthe customer 110 to determine a second friend or family member of thecustomer 110 located at a geographic location closest to a geographiclocation of the retail facility 180 associated with a geographiclocation of the customer 110.

In one aspect, upon determining the second friend or family member ofthe customer 110, and after receiving confirmation from the computingdevice 115 b of the second friend or family member of the customer 110of agreement to pick up the product 190 ordered by the customer 110 fromthe retail facility 180, the control circuit 210 is programmed totransmit (a third) electronic notification to the customer computingdevice 120 requesting that the customer 110 indicate agreement ordisagreement to have the second friend or family member of the customer110 pick up, at the retail facility 180, the one or more products 190ordered by the customer 110. Depending on whether the customer 110agrees or disagrees with having the second friend or family member ofthe customer 110 pick up the products 190 ordered by the customer 110from the retail facility 180, the control unit 210 of the retailercomputing device 150 is programmed to either perform an analysis asdescribed above to determine a third friend or family member of thecustomer 110 located at a geographic location that is third closest(after the first and second friend or family member) to the geographiclocation of the retail facility 180 associated with a geographiclocation of the customer 110, or to notify the second friend or familymember of the customer 110 (as described above) to pick up the products190 from the retail facility 180 associated with the geographic locationof the customer 110.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the retailer computing device 150 iscoupled to an inventory management database 160. The retailer computingdevice 150 and the inventory management database 160 may be implementedas a single device at the retail facility 180 of the retailer asillustrated in FIG. 1. It will be appreciated, however, that theretailer computing device 150 and the inventory management database 160may be separate devices, and may be located at different physicallocations. In some embodiments, the inventory management database 160may be stored, for example, on non-volatile storage media (e.g., a harddrive, flash drive, or removable optical disk) internal or external tothe retailer computing device 150, or internal or external to computingdevices separate and distinct from the retailer computing device 150. Insome embodiments, the inventory management database 160 may becloud-based.

The exemplary inventory management database 160 of FIG. 1 is configuredto store electronic data associated with the products 190 ordered by thecustomer 110 and being picked up for the customer 110 at the retailfacility 180 by a friend or family member of the customer 110. Someexemplary electronic data that may be stored in the inventory managementdatabase 160 may include, but is not limited to: electronic dataindicating an inventory of available products 190 at the retail facility180; electronic data indicating an identity of a friend or family memberwho agreed to pick up one or more products 190 for the order-placingcustomer 110 from the retail facility 180, and who was approved as apick up person by the customer 110. For example, the inventorymanagement database 160 may include electronic data identifying allproducts 190 ordered by a customer 110 in association with the name of aperson (i.e., friend or family member of the customer 110) who wasauthorized by the customer 110 to pick up such products 190 for thecustomer 110 from the retail facility 180.

In some embodiments, the customer 110 may access, review, and/or updatethe electronic data in the customer information database 140 and/or theinventory management database 160 via the graphical interface 122displayed to the customer 110 on the customer computing device 120. Thegraphical interface 122 may include one or more graphical input fields124 in the form of menu options and/or sub-interfaces that permit thecustomer 110 to: manage product orders (e.g., by adding or removing oneor more products 190 to or from the order of the customer 110 stored inthe inventory management database 160); manage friends and familymembers of the customer 110 (e.g., by adding or removing one or morefriend or family member to or from the list of friends and familymembers of the customer 110 stored in the customer information database140); by pre-granting permission to one or more friends or familymembers of the customer 110 (stored in the customer information database140) to pick up one or more products 190 ordered by the customer 110from the retailer facility 180; to provide a list of social media andnetworking websites that the customer 110 is a member of; and to updatethe customer's account information, alert notifications, as well as pickup options for products 190 ordered by the customer 110 from theretailer via the order processing server 130.

In some embodiments, the graphical interface 122 is configured withinput fields 124 that permit the customer 110 to set and/or modifypick-up and/or alert options for one or more orders placed by thecustomer 110, as well as for any special instructions for any of theindividual products 190 in such orders. For example, the customer 110may utilize the graphical interface 122 of the customer computing device120 to: define a specific date on which the products 190 are to bepicked up by the friend or family member for the customer from theretail facility 180; define an interval for periodic pick up, by thefriend or family member, of the products 190 ordered by the customer 110from the retail facility 180; and define an identity (e.g., first andlast name) of friends or family members of the customer 110 who areauthorized (or not authorized) to pick up products 190 at the retailfacility 180 for the customer 110.

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of an exemplary method 300 of facilitatingpick up of products 190 purchased by a customer 110 over a network froma retailer. After a customer 110 purchases one or more products 190 fromthe retailer via an order processing server 130 of the retailer, theembodiment of the method 300 of FIG. 3 includes processing, at the orderprocessing server 130 of the retailer, the purchase order placed by thecustomer 110 for the one or more products 190 (step 310). As discussedabove, in the method 300 of FIG. 3, the customer 110 does not elect tohave the ordered products 190 delivered by the retailer to the customer110 or to personally pick up the ordered products 190 from the retailfacility 180, but instead elects (via the graphical interface 122 of thecustomer computing device 120) to have the products 190 ordered by thecustomer 110 picked up from the retail facility 180 associated with thegeographic location of the customer 110 by a friend or family member ofthe customer 110.

After the purchase order of the customer 110 for one or more products190 is processed at the order processing server 130, the exemplarymethod 300 further includes accessing, via a retailer computing device150 including a processor-based control circuit 210, at least one socialmedia website to identify friends and family members of the customer 110(step 320). In one aspect, after a customer 110 elects pick up of theproducts 190 ordered by the customer 110 from the retail facility 180 bya friend or family member of the customer 110, the retailer computingdevice 150 queries the customer information database 140 to determinewhether a list of friends and family members of the customer 110 isstored in the customer information database 140. In some embodiments, ifthe customer information database 140 already includes a list of friendsand family members of the customer 110 accumulated, based on either theretailer computing device 150 accessing social media websites toidentify friends and family members of the customer 110, or based on thecustomer 110 expressly identifying his or her friends and family memberswhen setting up an account with the retailer. In some embodiments, thecustomer information database 140 does not yet include a list of friendsand family members of the customer 110 (e.g., the customer 110 is a newcustomer of the retailer), and the retailer computing device 150 isconfigured to access one or more social media websites such as Facebook,Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, or the like to identify friends and familymembers of the customer 110.

After the friends and family members of the customer 110 placing anorder via the order processing server 130 of the retailer are identifiedby the retailer computing device 150, the exemplary method 300 of FIG. 3includes analyzing, via the retailer computing device 150, geographiclocations of the friends and family members of the customer 110 todetermine a first friend or family member of the customer 110 located ata geographic location closest to a geographic location of a retailfacility 180 of the retailer associated with a geographic location ofthe customer 110 (step 330). In one aspect, this analysis is performedby obtaining publicly available addresses of the friends and familymembers of the customer 110 who were identified when accessing thesocial media websites, and by using map-based analytics to measure adistance from the address of each identified friend or family members ofthe customer 110 to the address of the retail facility 180 of theretailer associated with the geographic location of the customer 110. Insome embodiments, if the customer information database 140 alreadyincludes a list of friends and family members of the customer 110, thefriends and family members of the customer may be ranked in order ofbeing closest to furthest (distance-wise) to a retail facility 180 ofthe retailer associated with the geographic location of the customer110.

After the retailer computing device 150 determines which friend orfamily member of the customer 110 who ordered products 190 from theretailer is located geographically closest to the retail facility 180associated with the geographic location of the customer 110, this friendor family member is designated in the customer information database 140as the first friend or family member of the customer, and the friend orfamily member of the customer 110 is located geographically secondclosest to the retail facility 180 is designated in the customerinformation database 140 as the second friend or family member of thecustomer 110, and so on. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3, afterthe first friend or family member of the customer 110 is determined bythe retailer computing device 150, the method 300 includes the step oftransmitting, via the retailer computing device 150, a first electronicnotification to a computing device 115 a of the first friend or familymember of the customer 110, with the first electronic notificationrequesting the first friend or family member of the customer 110 toindicate agreement to pick up, at the retail facility 180, the product190 (or products 190) ordered by the customer 110 (step 340). Asdescribed above, in some embodiments, such a transmission may be made bythe retailer computing device 150 to the computing device 115 a of thefirst friend or family member of the customer 110 via the network 125(which may be an internet-based or an intranet-based network).

In one aspect, after the first friend or family member of the customer110 receives the above-described first electronic notification from theretailer computing device 150 over the network 125 and uses thegraphical interface 117 a of his or her computing device 115 a toindicate agreement or disagreement to pick up the products 190 for thecustomer 110, this agreement or disagreement by the first friend orfamily member of the customer 110 is transmitted from the computingdevice 115 a of the first friend or family member of the customer 110via the network 125 to the retailer computing device 150. Then, in someembodiments, the method 300 of FIG. 3 further includes receiving, at theretailer computing device 150, a response from the computing device 115a of the first friend or family member of the customer 110 indicatingagreement by the first friend or family member of the customer 110 topick up, at the retail facility 180, the product 190 (or products 190)ordered by the customer 110 (step 350).

In some embodiments, the method 300 may include receiving, at theretailer computing device 150 of the retailer, a response from thecomputing device 115 a of the first friend or family member of thecustomer 110 indicating that the first friend or family member of thecustomer 110 does not agree to pick up, at the retail facility 180, theproduct 190 (or products 190) ordered by the customer 110. If the firstfriend or family member of the customer 110 does not agree to pick upthe products 190 ordered by the customer 110 from the retail facility180 for whatever reason (e.g., traveling, no longer residing at thepublicly listed address, or no longer friends with the customer 110),the method 300 may include analyzing, via the retailer computing device150 (e.g., via accessing the customer information database 140),geographic locations of other friends and family of the customer 110 todetermine at least a second friend or family member of the customer 110located at a geographic location that is second closest to thegeographic location of the retail facility 180 after the geographiclocation of the first friend or family member of the customer 110determined to be the closest, but who did not agree to pick up theproducts 190 for the customer 110 from the retail facility 180. In oneaspect, after a determination of such a second friend or family memberof the customer 110 is made by the retailer computing device 150, themethod 300 may include transmitting a third electronic notification to acomputing device 115 b of the second friend or family member of thecustomer 110, with the third electronic notification requesting thesecond friend or family member of the customer 110 to indicate agreementto pick up, at the retail facility 180, the product 190 (or products190) ordered by the customer 110 from the retailer.

In the embodiment of FIG. 3, after the first friend or family member ofthe customer 110 indicates agreement to pick up the products 190 orderedby the customer 110 from the retail facility 180 associated with thegeographic location of the customer 110, and such agreement istransmitted via the network 125 from the computing device 115 a of thefirst friend or family member of the customer 110 to the retailercomputing device 150, the method 300 includes transmitting, from theretailer computing device 150 of the retailer, a second electronicnotification to a customer computing device 120, with the secondelectronic notification indicating that the product 190 ordered by thecustomer 110 will be available for pick up at the geographic location ofthe first friend or family member of the customer 110. In someembodiments, when the first friend or family member arrives at theretail facility 180 to pick up the products 190 for the customer 110,the method 300 may further include checking authentication credentialsof the first friend or family member of the customer 110 to verify anidentify of the first friend or family member of the customer 110 toensure that the person attempting to pick up the products 190 for thecustomer 110 at the retail facility 180 is in fact authorized to pick upthe products 190. In one aspect, after the products 190 are picked up bythe first friend or family member of the customer from the retailfacility 180, the method 300 may further include transmitting, from theretailer computing device 150, an electronic notification to thecustomer computing device 120 to alert the customer 110 that theproducts 190 ordered by the customer were picked up by an authorizedfriend or family member of the customer 110 from the retail facility180.

In one aspect, the customer 110 is given an option to accept or notaccept the first friend or family member chosen by the retailercomputing device 150 for pick-up of the products 190 ordered by thecustomer 110 from the retailer. To that end, the second electronicnotification transmitted by the retailer computing device 150 to thecustomer computing device 120 includes a graphical interface 122including input fields 124 configured to enable the customer 110 toindicate agreement or disagreement with picking up the product orderedby the customer 110 from the first friend or family member of thecustomer 110.

In some embodiments, upon receiving, at the retailer computing device150, a response from the customer computing device 120 indicating thatthe customer 110 does not agree to pick up the product 190 ordered bythe customer 110 from the first friend or family member of the customer110, the method 300 may further include analyzing geographic locationsof the friends and family of the customer 110 (e.g., stored in thecustomer information database 140) to determine at least a second friendor family member of the customer 110 located at a geographic locationthat is second closest to the geographic location of the retail facility180 associated with the geographic location of the customer 110 afterthe geographic location of the first friend or family member of thecustomer 110 who was disapproved by the customer 110 for picking up theproducts 190 ordered by the customer 110. When the retailer computingdevice 150 determines the identity of a second friend or family memberof the customer 110 who is located second closest distance-wise to theretail facility 180 associated with the geographic location of thecustomer 110, the method 300 may further include transmitting a thirdelectronic notification to a computing device 115 b of the second friendor family member of the customer 110, with the third electronicnotification requesting the second friend or family member of thecustomer 110 to confirm whether the second friend or family member ofthe customer 110 agrees to pick up, at the retail facility 180, theproduct 190 (or products 190) ordered by the customer 110.

In one aspect, after the retailer computing device 150 of the retailerdetermines the second friend of family member of the customer 110 whomay pick up products 190 for the customer 110 at the retail facility180, the method 300 may include transmitting, from the retailercomputing device 150 via the network 125, a third electronicnotification to the computing device 115 b of the second friend orfamily member of the customer 110, with the third electronicnotification requesting that the second friend or family member of thecustomer 110 indicate agreement or disagreement to pick up, at theretail facility 180, one or more products 190 ordered by the customer110. Depending on whether the second friend or family member of thecustomer 110 agrees or disagrees to pick up the products 190 ordered bythe customer 110 from the retail facility 180, the method 300 mayfurther include either an analyzing step akin to step 330 to determine athird friend or family member of the customer 110 located at ageographic location that is third closest (after the first and secondfriend or family member) to the geographic location of the retailfacility 180 associated with a geographic location of the customer 110,or a transmitting step akin to step 360 to notify the customer 110 (asdescribed below) to pick up the products 190 from the second friend orfamily member.

In one aspect, upon determining the second friend or family member ofthe customer 110, and after receiving confirmation from the computingdevice 115 b of the second friend or family member of the customer 110of agreement to pick up the product 190 ordered by the customer 110 fromthe retail facility 180, the method 300 may include transmitting, fromthe retailer computing device 150 via the network 125, a thirdelectronic notification to the customer computing device 120, with thethird electronic notification requesting that the customer 110 indicateagreement or disagreement to have the second friend or family member ofthe customer 110 pick-up, at the retail facility 180, the one or moreproducts 190 ordered by the customer 110. Depending on whether thecustomer 110 agrees or disagrees with having the second friend or familymember of the customer 110 pick up the products 190 ordered by thecustomer 110 from the retail facility 180, the method 300 may include ananalyzing step akin to step 330 to determine a third friend or familymember of the customer 110 located at a geographic location that isthird closest (after the first and second friend or family member) tothe geographic location of the retail facility 180 associated with ageographic location of the customer 110, or a transmitting step akin tostep 360 to notify the second friend or family member of the customer110 (as described above) to pick up the products 190 from the retailfacility 180 associated with the geographic location of the customer110.

The systems and methods described herein advantageously allow customersto purchase products from a retailer and have a friend or family memberpick up such products from the retail facility of the retailerassociated with the geographic location of the customer 110.Accordingly, the customers are provided with an ability to either pickup the products they order from their friends or family members insteadof the retail facility, or to have such products delivered to their homeby their friends or family members. Such systems and methods provide asignificant time savings and convenience for the customers of theretailer and are likely to increase customer loyalty to the retailer.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that a wide variety of othermodifications, alterations, and combinations can also be made withrespect to the above described embodiments without departing from thescope of the invention, and that such modifications, alterations, andcombinations are to be viewed as being within the ambit of the inventiveconcept.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for facilitating pick up of productspurchased over a network by a customer from a retailer, the systemcomprising: an electronic customer information database configured tostore electronic data associated with friends and family members of thecustomer; an order processing server of the retailer configured toprocess an order for a product placed by the customer, the orderprocessing server being configured to permit the customer to elect, viaa computing device of the customer, to designate a first friend or afamily member of the customer for picking up the product ordered by thecustomer; a computing device of the retailer including a processor-basedcontrol circuit, the computing device configured to access theelectronic customer information database to obtain the electronic dataassociated with the friends and family members of the customer, whereinthe control circuit is configured to: transmit a first electronicnotification to a computing device of the first friend or family memberof the customer designated by the customer for picking up the productordered by the customer, the first electronic notification beingconfigured to cause a first graphical interface to be displayed on thecomputing device of the first friend or family member, the firstgraphical interface requesting the first friend or family member of thecustomer to select at least one input field within the first graphicalinterface to indicate agreement to pick up, at the retail facility ofthe retailer, the product ordered by the customer; in response to aselection by the customer of the at least one input field within thefirst graphical interface, receive a response from the computing deviceof the first friend or family member of the customer indicatingagreement by the first friend or family member of the customer to pickup, at the retail facility of the retailer, the product ordered by thecustomer; and transmit a second electronic notification to the computingdevice of the customer, the second electronic notification beingconfigured to cause a second graphical interface to be displayed on thecomputing device of the customer, the second graphical interfaceindicating that the product ordered by the customer will be availablefor pick up from the first friend or family member of the customer. 2.The system of claim 1, wherein the first and second electronicnotifications comprise at least one of: a mobile app notification, ashort-message-service (SMS) message, an electronic mail, and an instantmessenger message.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the control circuitis further configured to receive a response from the computing device ofthe first friend or family member of the customer indicating that thefirst friend or family member of the customer does not agree to pick up,at the retail facility of the retailer, the product ordered by thecustomer.
 4. The system of claim 3, wherein the control circuit isfurther configured to transmit a query to the customer to permit thecustomer to designate at least a second friend or family member of thecustomer for picking up the product ordered by the customer.
 5. Thesystem of claim 4, wherein the control circuit is further configured totransmit a third electronic notification to a computing device of thesecond friend or family member of the customer, the third electronicnotification requesting the second friend or family member of thecustomer to indicate agreement to pick up, at the retail facility of theretailer, the product ordered by the customer.
 6. The system of claim 1,wherein the control circuit is configured to check authenticationcredentials of the first friend of family member of the customer priorto authorizing the first friend or family member to pick up the productordered by the customer at the retail facility of the retailer.
 7. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein, in response to receipt of data indicatingthat the product ordered by the customer has been picked up at theretail facility of the retailer by the first friend or family member ofthe customer, the control circuit is further configured transmit analert to the computing device of the customer to notify the customerthat the product ordered by the customer has been picked up from theretail facility of the retailer by an authorized friend or family memberof the customer.
 8. A method of facilitating pick up of productspurchased over a network by a customer from a retailer, the methodcomprising: providing an electronic customer information databaseconfigured to store electronic data associated with friends and familymembers of the customer; processing, at an order processing server, anorder for a product placed by the customer, and permitting, the customerto elect, via a computing device of the customer, to designate a firstfriend or a family member of the customer for picking up the productordered by the customer; accessing, via a computing device of theretailer including a processor-based control circuit, the electroniccustomer information database to obtain the electronic data associatedwith the friends and family members of the customer; transmitting, viathe computing device of the retailer, a first electronic notification toa computing device of the first friend or family member of the customerdesignated by the customer for picking up the product ordered by thecustomer, the first electronic notification causing a first graphicalinterface to be displayed on the computing device of the first friend orfamily member, the first graphical interface requesting the first friendor family member of the customer to select at least one input fieldwithin the first graphical interface to indicate agreement to pick up,at the retail facility of the retailer, the product ordered by thecustomer; in response to a selection by the customer of the at least oneinput field within the first graphical interface, receiving, at thecomputing device of the retailer, a response from the computing deviceof the first friend or family member of the customer indicatingagreement by the first friend or family member of the customer to pickup, at the retail facility of the retailer, the product ordered by thecustomer; and transmitting, from the computing device of the retailer, asecond electronic notification to the computing device of the customer,the second electronic notification causing a second graphical interfaceto be displayed on the computing device of the customer, the secondgraphical interface indicating that the product ordered by the customerwill be available for pick up from the first friend or family member ofthe customer.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first and secondelectronic notifications comprise at least one of: a mobile appnotification, a short-message-service (SMS) message, an electronic mail,and an instant messenger message.
 10. The method of claim 8, wherein thetransmitting the first electronic notification step further comprisesreceiving, at the computing device of the retailer, a response from thecomputing device of the first friend or family member of the customerindicating that the first friend or family member of the customer doesnot agree to pick up, at the retail facility of the retailer, theproduct ordered by the customer.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein theanalyzing step further comprises transmit a query to the customer topermit the customer to designate at least a second friend or familymember of the customer for picking up the product ordered by thecustomer.
 12. The method of claim 11, further comprising transmitting athird electronic notification to a computing device of the second friendor family member of the customer, the third electronic notificationrequesting the second friend or family member of the customer toindicate agreement to pick up, at the retail facility of the retailer,the product ordered by the customer.
 13. The method of claim 11, furthercomprising checking, via the control circuit, authentication credentialsof the first friend of family member of the customer prior toauthorizing the first friend or family member to pick up the productordered by the customer at the retail facility of the retailer.
 14. Themethod of claim 11, further comprising, in response to receipt of dataindicating that the product ordered by the customer has been picked upat the retail facility of the retailer by the first friend or familymember of the customer, transmitting from the computing device of theretailer an alert to the computing device of the customer to notify thecustomer that the product ordered by the customer has been picked upfrom the retail facility of the retailer by an authorized friend orfamily member of the customer.